Hulk Hogan knocks himself out of the ring

(MENAFN- Arab News) I don't watch the WWE circus acts on TV except for a brief stopover when I am surfing the channels. So in these brief moments one gets to see two big guys slamming each other with choreographed perfection a blonde with a signboard and some undergrad exchange of epithets evidently scripted by a guy with a two digit IQ.
The one other common factor is that the stadium is always jam packed with screaming fans. So obviously it is a winner to many and no surprise that its shareholders became $160 million richer three weeks ago when major investment companies called it a rock solid option for parking your money. The WWE was golden and the richest public franchise in the world of sports.
This week it slid down a slippery slope and there are no signs that slick PR will contain the damage. The most famous wrestler of all and the face of this funny ha ha funny peculiar highly popular offline sport is a gruff teddy bear of a mountain called Hulk Hogan whom nearly everyone loves and those who don't at least love to hate him. He is the voice the big sell the man they trek miles to watch in action.
Well they did until last week when the media picked up and played one of the most vituperative and vile racist tapes depicting old loveable Hogan sounding off about black people like you wouldn't believe it. Surprise that his beard didn't singe as he breathed fire and fury and used every politically incorrect word possible besides sinking to a depth that makes other recent racist sports indiscretions come off as vanilla in comparison.
Even though the self confessed anti-black muscleman immediately offered an unreserved apology whatever that means it is clearly not enough. These tinfoil apologies in the aftermath of the insult count for little.
In this case the chasm between the diatribe and the plastic sorry has inflamed rage even more and compelled the WWE to sever ties with Hulk. They have also knocked him out of the Hall of Fame. For thousands out there who see him as wrestling incarnate the disappearance of 'Ogan the 'orrible will be a tragic loss. In the first 24 hours after the WWE's decision to dump him dribbled into the media the shares showed a loss of $60 million.
Without Hogan in the WWE it is like chicken pie without any chicken in it. But so gross and ugly is this tape that the WWE itself would have been labelled racist if it had condoned the outburst.
Hogan was reportedly privately telling his friend(acquaintance?)how he felt about his daughter's affair with a black person. And was he talking dirty.
Can there be a defence on the basis of an invasion of privacy? Yes but it won't matter. It wasn't public it wasn't on TV at a Press conference over a microphone or in the company of several people. Does it therefore come under privileged conversation and does the media have the right to broadcast what is said between the walls of your home or office or even by the pool regardless of how ugly it is. Privacy does have a legal basis and one can ask what has happened to the de facto convention of a man and his castle being sacrosanct even if he is a celebrity.
If any of us were taped over 24 hours in our homes most of us would be mortified at things we say which could be construed as prejudiced hostile mean threatening vilifying and racist (like relating a bad joke) and how indicting and out of context they would become if made public.
Who set him up who made the tape and who sold it? No one knows for sure and if they do no one is telling. And no one cares. Even though it is eight years out of date the story has turned sordid and has the wrestling world in an armlock. For now the Hulk is more a little mite wriggling in the dust.
And the shares keep slipping.